Help with safeguarding children and young people

Outline current legislation , guidelines , policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation affecting safeguarding of children and young people. . There are many policies and procedures within the UK that outline the current legislation and guidelines to help with safeguarding children and young people. The Children Act 1989 The important part of this act is to maintain the child is at the forefront of decisions; the best option in relation to the child’s welfare will be taken into account when deciding the best course of action for the child/young person’s upbringing – creating a partnership between parents and multi-agencies.

Alongside this, the requirement of parental responsibilities is outlined e.g. their rights, duties and powers and achieved a balance between the need/welfare of the child and the right of the parent/carers. It gives a clear definition for what is meant by ‘harm’ in relation to safeguarding children – for example introducing abuse as ‘ill-treatment’ and how the impairment of health can also be a contributing factor to abuse.

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Following this, the framework of courts was restructured to ensure consistency of decisions in relation to family court proceedings.

Children’s Act 1999

The Children’s Act came into existence in the year 2000; it was to form a guideline that included a list of people deemed unsuitable to work with children and young people (e.g. paedophiles). Any person wanting to work with children/young people/vulnerable adults now has to complete an enhanced Criminal Record check (CRB). It is through databases such as the Criminal Records Bureau, that will safe-guard children and young people from contact with inappropriate adults.

Children Act 2004

As a direct response to a very serious case review involving a girl named Victoria Climbie, this young girl was abused and after times of social workers not looking into her injuries and cancelling home visits , Victoria was in and out of hospital with burns , scabs , then Victoria was rushed into hospital she was suffering from malnutrition and hypothermia, doctor’s later transfer her to intensive care at another hospital where she died . Victoria’s body was examined and they found about 128 injuries and scars. The government reviewed its approach to safeguarding and published a new green paper known as the Children’s Act 2004. The initial change was the introduction of the Child Protection .this act is linked to different agencies like , social-workers , child protection teams and SENCO, are able to look into cases and if they feel there are any concerns of a child is suffering from any harm / abuse they can apply for care orders and take them to safety in their best possible care homes.

How national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding affect day-to-day work with children and young people. There are many policies and procedures within the settings that cover the range of safeguarding children, the policies are Health and Safety policy, outings policy and Safeguarding policy. They are all put into place to ensure that all children / young people are cared for in the way they should be. The children and young people’s health and safety are important also is the welfare of the children in the settings/ schools.Social workers have to implement local procedures in Working Together. In some cases there will be reviews , they will look back into cases like Victoria Crimble, Bichard he murdered to young girls in Suffolk , Bichard work at the girls school. The case of baby ‘P’ He was treated like a punch bag after months of being harmed he died ...betted to death social worker missed the signs. Now policies have changed to ensure that no more cases happen like these again. Safeguarding children’s policy; Our aim is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. To ensure that the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Board Child Protection procedures together with guidance described in the booklet ‘ What to do if you are a worried child being abused’ and the Children’s Needs and Response Framework are adhered too.

Procedure: Our setting is registered on the Early Years register and we have a duty to comply with the welfare requirements of the Early years Foundation Stage which includes Safeguarding. We take seriously our responsibilities to ensure the safety and promote the welfare of children our care in line with the procedures laid out by the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children’s Board. We have developed a structured procedure to be followed in the case of a suspected abuse which is regularly reviewed and updated. We are committed to working in partnership with parents and ensure that we involve parents/ carers to the highest degree, wherever possible, whilst maintaining the focus on the best interests of the child. The Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children’s Board procedures have been agreed by all member agencies (R.B.S.C.B.)and must be followed whenever a concern exists about harm or potential harm to a child. The Children’s Needs and Response Frameworks has been agreed through both the Children’s Trust and the Safeguarding Children’s Board and is to be used in all setting’s by all organisations that provide services for young children and young people . The Framework describes the levels of children’s needs and how as professionals we must respond to and meet those needs.

Bullying / Behaviour Management Policy : Our aim is to create a safe and secure environment for all children that promotes and encourages acceptable behaviour and respect for others. To ensure behaviour strategies are consistent and developmentally appropriate, respecting individual children’s level of understanding, individual needs and maturity. Our procedure: Share with parents/ carers the rationale of boundaries and expectations to maintain a joint approach. ‘All adults ‘ role model good behaviour and positive strategies and language at all times. Bullying in any form will not be tolerated. Staff will respond positively to all parents/carers concerns regarding bullying ,and listen to all concerned. Help children to challenge bullying , harassment and name calling .Bullying is always distressing for the victim and can have serious consequences. Whistle Blowing policy: Every nursery has a whistle blowing policy and procedures these policies are put in place to provide protection for the person against victimisation or reprisals from another member of staff.

If any of your concerns are about malpractice or misconduct in the setting about another staff member to a child this must be reported to the named Safeguarding Officer in the setting. If concerns are raised then there are certain procedures to follow. .The whistle blower must write their concerns down and think what they saw, what happened and by who, was there any witnesses, the dates if it has happened more than once, the child’s name and place it took place. .Concerns must be reported to the named Safeguarding officer . .Al l information will be kept confidential and is investigated discreetly by Data Protection Act. Although whistle blowing may be a daunting and frightening experience to act upon , the safety and well being of a child may depend on another person’s actions, subsequently all aspects of whistle blowing are to be thought over with the best intentions of children/ young people in mind in our setting.

CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY:

Our policy is to ensure that all those working or learning within the setting has a clear understanding of the meaning and importance of maintaining confidentiality. All parents/carers should be aware that information divulged about their family will be treated in confidence. No information regarding the family will be discussed with any third party without consent of the responsible adult and their agreement, except in the case of safeguarding children .

We will respect confidentiality in the following ways:

.As part of their induction, all staff are reminded of their responsibility to maintain confidentiality. .Staff will ensure that discussions regarding families will not take place in presence of children: such discussions will only take place in private to maintain confidentiality. . Care will be taken with informal records such as dairy notes, telephone messages etc: and these are also treated with sensitivity. .Any evidence relating to a child’s personal safety will be kept in a confidential file . Information about individual children will be shared between staff on a need to know basis. .Parents are welcome to access information on their child which has been recorded by staff, but we are unable to share information recorded by other professionals without their permission. Parents/carers will not have access to any information about any other children. .Children/ young people may wish to have access to their own files, However, it must be recognised that there may be information in their file that parents have requested not to be shared with their children . .All records will be stored in a locked cabinet. Access to this cabinet is restricted to named personal. .Any confidential information will be shredded and disposed of appropriately. .Information which is stored on a computer will be password protected.

COMPLAINTS POLICY:

We aim to deal with complaints and concerns as quickly and effectively as possible in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage. It is of paramount importance that The Willows runs smoothly and parents and staff work together in a spirit of co-operation and in the best interests of the children. Children and parents are entitled to expect courtesy and prompt, careful attention to their needs and wishes, we always ensure that parents views and opinions are listened to and taken seriously. Procedure: In the first instance if you wish to make a complaint please speak to your child’s key worker or another member of staff – team who will try to resolve the issue. If this does not have a satisfactory outcome please speak to one of the managers / deputy manager of the setting. You can make your complaint verbally or in writing .We will always complete one of our settings complaints record forms. All complaints will be acknowledged within 48 working hours of receipt. Complaints will be investigated and an account of the findings of the investigation will then be acted on , the result of the action of the complaint will be put in writing within 28 day period. However if we cannot resolve your complaint or you are not happy with the outcome, due to the nature of the complaint you may wish to speak to our regulator ‘OFSTED’ you can contact them: we will give you their address,

LEGISIATION: Children Act 1989 is a law that relates to children to provide for the local authority services to protect children in the event of allegations of signs of child abuse. The law is put in place for the safety of these children with organised children’s homes, fostering childminding ,adoption and day care settings for young children. The Childs Act 1989introdued the concept of parental responsibility, this act aimed to ensure that children’s welfare was dominant, whilst in partnership with the parents/carers. It is there to strengthen the child’s legal position, to give the child legal rights, feelings ands wishes.

WORKING TOGETHER TO SAFEGUARD CHILDREN 2006: This revised version of the act sets out how organisations and individuals work together to safeguard and also to promote the welfare of children/ young people in accordance with the children’s act 1989. It is important that all practitioners within the settings and environments in childcare , must know their responsibilities and duties in order to safeguard the welfare of the children and young people by following their policies and procedures, especially in the light of THE LAMING AND BICHARD INQUIRIES;

The children act 2004: Many professionals involved in cases remarked that they had big workloads and a low pay , and their morale was low . Communication was not good between teams and agencies. This inquiry made a number of improvements to departments and this led to Children’s Act 2004. The Data Protection Act 1989 This act came into force in early 1999 and covers how information and details about adults, children and young people are kept. The act is required that all organisations, environments and settings must keep all information and details of families filed and locked in cabinets . All confidential information that is kept on computers should be protected by passwords.

EVERY CHILD MATTERS: This Act was formed in 2003 The with Lord Lamming report resulted in a green paper, ‘Every Child Matters’ to make sure that children could get help to be save, There are five outcomes : *Be healthy

*Stay safe
*Enjoy and Achieve
*Make a positive contribution

These are the main focus areas of early intervention, and a shared sense of responsibility , sharing of information and integrated services.

CRB: Stands for Criminal Records Bureau, these are checks made by the settings , the police national computer has all criminal records and details stored in them . CRB checks are made for anyone working within a children/ young people’s environment or old person/ mental disabled environment .To ensure that you are legible to work in these environments and be responsible for children/young people and mental disabled people. If you are a volunteer / student you still have to have a CRB check done. Vetting and barring scheme were created to help safeguard children and vulnerable adults by introducing these new measures including monitoring and registration requirements following the Bichard inquiry.